Wasps and the future

I stand corrected. Professor Google informs me wasps are pollinators as well as predators.

I’m allergic to wasp venom so I avoid them. Mr. B zaps any that come in the house and refuse to leave peacefully.

Blossoming
A good name for this thread

I think they eat rubbish and other pests
They're also partial to nectar so they do pollinate.

I don’t think wasps are pollinators, are they? I thought their value to the ecosystem was that they prey on various garden pests.

The bee situation is worrying though.

Gwyneth

There were two threads recently one about wasps and the other spiders. It seemed that many posters just wanted to kill them. If this is the same scenario with all insects I guess the idea of humans physically pollinating crops etc is not so far fetched. We will also see many species of wild flowers etc just die out.

I try not to kill spiders (or bees or other pollinators which I rescue) and we certainly have plenty of spiders here!

However, wasps do die off in the winter with the exception of the queen which hibernates and forms a new colony next year.
So if a wasp lands on my dinner in September I might well dispose of it.

I think it has started happening already in China, for instance.

Extensive use of pesticides resulted in a sharp decline in the bee population and some farmers had to resort to hand pollination to ensure there was a crop.

A double edged sword - pesticides were used to try to increase yield but then pollinators were killed off and yield sharply declined.

There were two threads recently one about wasps and the other spiders. It seemed that many posters just wanted to kill them. If this is the same scenario with all insects I guess the idea of humans physically pollinating crops etc is not so far fetched. We will also see many species of wild flowers etc just die out.

I wish someone would mention this to a wasp that seems to have a huge interest in my feet at the moment. I keep having to change chairs to get away. Can’t think why. I have been walking through fields and undergrowth all morning maybe I picked up pollen on the way?

Do you think the insect pollinator situation is going to be that bad, boat, that humans will have to pollinate crops by hand?

Seems a bit far fetched to me if that's what you're suggesting.

Oh come on. Tell me I'm boring or wrong headed just don't let my post wither into obscurity.